US plugs for 'foundational partnership' with India

India and US have the potential to be one of the most important and foundational partnerships that we have going forward over the next decades, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Talking about India-US ties, Blinken said, "This partnership (India-US relations) has the potential to be one of the most important and foundational partnerships that we have going forward over the next decades."

Blinken continued saying that Russia, for India, was out of necessity, a partner of choice when we were not in a position to meet a partner.
"Now we're investing in that effort. There is a growing strategic convergence between US-India and of course, China is a big part of that," he added.

Earlier, Derek Chollet, a top advisor of US Secretary Antony Blinken said "Washington fully understands New Delhi's long-standing ties to Moscow."

"We understand that India has had a long-standing defense relationship with Russia over many years and part of that was because the United States was not available to be a partner. It is decades ago and we face a much different reality today," he said.

Asserting that India is a strategic partner of the United States, Chollet said: "We're natural allies. And this partnership has tremendous potential. It's already paying dividends for both countries in the region and all around the world. And we think, really, there's nowhere to go but up."

(ANI)